


coffee and contemplation

by Lint



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 20:28:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15372687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lint/pseuds/Lint
Summary: “It's nice here,” Betty states, trying to keep the conversation light. “Way better than Thornhill.”





	coffee and contemplation

 

“Oh my god,” Betty laments, before blowing cautiously onto her coffee. “I hated her.”

 

She then takes a slow sip.

 

“But not really, if you know what I mean?”

 

Toni knows exactly what she means, mirroring her companion by taking a drink of her own. How else could she have fallen for the girl who'd been nothing but antagonistic toward her since the day they met? Had been judgmental, classist, and almost cruel at times. But it seemed so obvious to see that broken, lonely girl hiding inside the armor.

 

It's oddly vindicating to hear Betty say such a thing. To let her know she wasn't the only one, besides Veronica that is, to try and see beyond the flaws. To allow the girl underneath it all a chance to slowly rise toward the top.

 

It's a warm summer morning, and they're sitting at a small table out in the back garden of Thistlehouse, sharing a cup together. Toni had woken up near the crack of dawn, and been unable to fall back asleep, waiting almost thirty minutes to see if Cheryl would follow. When she hadn't, had slipped quietly out of bed, and bounded into the kitchen to see Betty awake as well already making coffee.

 

“When did you know?” Toni asks, curious as to when Betty realized she could have something Cheryl beyond the status quo their relationship had always been.

 

Betty contemplates the question a moment, eyes dropping down to her coffee, as she sighs before leaning back in her chair.

 

“She was kind to me,” comes the answer. “Shockingly so. When she'd never been before.”

 

A small smile pulls at her lips.

 

“I was losing my mind from what my Dad, I mean the Black Hood, was putting me through. She saw me breaking down, and didn't tear into me like she would have so many times before.”

 

She takes a drink.

 

“I was in no place to accept that kindness though, pretty sure I snapped at her, but looking back on it now? It might have been the first time she was nice to me without wanting something in return. Misdirected as it may have been.”

 

Toni's brow furrows at the statement.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“She thought I was upset about...”

 

Betty trails off, as if she suddenly thinks better of spilling some unknown truth that doesn't need to be, but Toni waits patiently.

 

“I guess,” she clears her throat, and sits up straight. “At some point my Dad found the time, in the middle of his killing spree mind you, to start sleeping with Penelope Blossom.”

 

Toni's mouth drops, this little nugget of gossip having missed her ears entirely, and feels a sharp pang of empathy for her. It can't be easy living with the fact that your father is a monster, let alone being a bastard on top of it.

 

“And Cheryl knew. She actually tried to get it to stop, and did, much to my surprise.”

 

“Why surprise?”

 

“I didn't think she cared,” Betty replies honestly. “Unless it was in regard to the twins, I never once thought she gave a damn about my family.”

 

“Oh,” Toni accepts with a nod.

 

“But then we find out that we're actually related, and it's like a switch flipped.”

 

Toni grins at that.

 

“Even when my Dad tried to kill her because of me...”

 

Betty's eyes drop again, her voice going soft.

 

“She had every reason to hate me for that, and didn't.”

 

“Family is family,” Toni offers. “And we both know how much that girl has ached for one that cares about her.”

 

“Yeah,” Betty acknowledges.

 

They're quiet a moment.

 

“What about you?” Betty asks.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“When did you, you know, realize the two of you would-”

 

“Oh,” Toni laughs. “Honestly? At first I didn't believe anything would happen. She was a tough nut to crack, and I kept trying even though she was so-”

 

“Abrasive?”

 

“Yes!” Toni exclaims with a snap of her fingers. “That. Totally that.”

 

“But you kept trying.”

 

“I did.”

 

“Can I ask why?”

 

Toni flushes.

 

“She was hot,” comes the response with a shrug. “Ridiculously, stupidly, hot.”

 

“Wow,” Betty replies, elongating the vowels. “You're talking like, next level hotness to keep coming back when she started off calling you Queen of the Buskers.”

 

Toni laughs.

 

“Those redheads man,” she states in self depreciation. “What can I say?”

 

This time Betty laughs with her.

 

“Wait a second,” Toni goes on. “You weren't there when she called me that.”

 

“Veronica told me.”

 

Toni clucks her tongue.

 

“Of course she did.”

 

There's a pause in the conversation, and Toni wonders if it's a good time to bring up the fact that Betty has spent the last week crashing in one of the spare rooms. Or that she had showed up at the door with tears in her eyes, and a bag slung over her Serpent jacket adorned shoulder. How Cheryl didn't even hesitate to offer home and hand to her cousin. Toni also wonders if they know each other well enough for her to ask about Betty's mother.

 

How it's undeniable that Betty becoming a Serpent had caused a rift, despite the fact that Alice Cooper's own youth was spent rooted in the club. Betty must read the question in her eyes, because she gives a little shake of the head, so Toni doesn't bring either topic up.

 

“It's nice here,” Betty states, trying to keep the conversation light. “Way better than Thornhill.”

 

Toni wouldn't know, having not met Cheryl before she burned the old mansion to the ground. It's strange to think, she's never even lived in an actual house before coming here, and that a line of separation runs so deep to where Cheryl could destroy one domicile and simply move into another.

 

That she didn't have to couch surf for nearly a year, when her Uncle skipped town for better employment elsewhere, and that her Grandfather sadly didn't have the room to take her in. So grand is Thistlehouse to her. Where Cheryl nearly trips over herself to make Toni feel welcome. To make it feel like a home. Their home. Way better than Thornhill for sure. Even if she doesn't have the proper experience to compare.

 

“How so?” She wonders.

 

“Well, it's still bigger than most houses in Riverdale,” she answers, gesturing toward the building behind them. “But it's different in its own way. Homey, I guess you could say? Thornhill felt more like H.H. Holmes murder castle than a place where the richest family in town lived. Like you could step inside anytime and never come out. Really didn't help that the place had its own graveyard, either.”

 

Toni snorts a laugh into her coffee, the reference tickling her just so, and the pair then fall easily into talk about true crime after that. They're fifteen minutes deep into a conversation about the Green River Killer, when Cheryl finally wanders outside to find them, a curious yet please grin on her face.

 

“Just what are you two early birds chirping about?” she asks, pausing to take a seat in Toni's lap, and slip an arm around her shoulder.

 

“Nothing,” they manage in unison, which drops the grin right from Cheryl's face, causing Betty to burst out laughing.

 

“Murder,” Betty she replies, just as Toni utters “Mayhem” at the exact same time, which then causes both of them to laugh some more.

 

Cheryl however, is not amused.

 

“You,” Toni coos into Cheryl's ear. “We were talking about you.”

 

Cheryl looks down to her, eyebrow lifting with an unasked question.

 

“Good things,” Toni is quick to assure. “Right Betty?”

 

“Of course,” Betty readily agrees, straightening up in her chair. “Such good, good things.”

 

Cheryl doesn't believe either of them for a second.

 

“If you're just going to make fun of me, I'm going to back to bed.”

 

Toni is quick to turn Cheryl's head with the crook of her finger softly along the girl's jaw, pulling her into a kiss Betty swiftly averts her eyes from.

 

Cheryl hums in satisfaction, before pulling back.

 

“Don't be like that baby,” she teases, giving her big soft eyes. “We were just discussing the fact that it's a beautiful day. Perfect for teaching you how to ride.”

 

It takes Cheryl a full second to realize Toni means a motorcycle.

 

“Is this true, cousin?”

 

Betty nods emphatically.

 

“Absolutely.”

 

Cheryl's eyes flick between them.

 

“The two of you work well together,” she states, voice full of suspicion. “I don't like it.”

 

 


End file.
